Continued from:
RAHUL GANDHI’S NO AND YES; PRIYANKA GANDHI STEPS IN: NO NEED TO LOOK
FOR RAHUL GANDHI’S MANMOHAN SIGH (I)
http://severallyalone.blogspot.in/2013/03/rahul-gandhis-no-and-yes-priyanka.html
Rahul’s reluctance in taking the
front space of the political developments and his silence or delayed response
on vital issues has always given way to the debate that who could be the next
prime ministerial candidate from the Congress party if Rahul decides to keep
away from it.
Pranab Mukherjee, being the
President, is now ruled out. Other names of concern in such debates are P
Chidambaram and A K Antony.
But, BUT, they are not as safe an
option as Manmohan Singh was. Manmohan Singh was a political nonentity and
after completing 9 years as the prime minister remains a political nonentity. That
tells us how safe it was for the Gandhi family to go with him. More or less,
Manmohan has remained loyal to the family.
In other words, he was never
going to be a threat to the political dominance of the Gandhi family in the
Congress party.
On the other hand, Pranab was
never a safe bet given his grudge of making Manmohan the prime minister and his
political ambition of getting the prime-ministerial chair. After all he was a
career politician with an impressive track record and had all the valid reasons
to aspire so. He could have never been the harmless ‘yes man’ the family was
looking for. Pranab’s response on Narendra Modi’s observation that Pranab would
have been a better prime minister than Manmohan Singh tells all. His “You can
have your own assessment” (3) tells all.
And so are P Chidambaram and A K
Antony. Given the way they have built their political careers over the years,
they cannot be expected to remain ‘yes men’ once given the taste of the power
of the country most powerful political position. After all, the Sitaram Kesari
experience is just over a decade old.
In short, P Chidambaram or A K
Antony can never be Rahul Gandhi’s Manmohan Singh. And there is no one else in
the Congress party (a safe option like Manmohan Singh) who can be given the
prime-ministerial chair in case the party comes in a position to form the
government.
And this gives the possibility to
think that the thinking thus would be to keep it within the family (the Gandhi
family).
And here comes Priyanka Gandhi in
the picture.
Even if Rahul Gandhi feels
reluctant to take the prime-ministerial responsibility, he will have a family
member to lead the political pack at the union government level.
Alternatively, if Rahul opts to
become the prime minister, and if he feels he cannot don the twin
responsibilities of leading the party and government, he will be able to take a
free decision with Priyanka there to take over the responsibility of the
Congress party.
And so, it all remains in the
family.
This might be the thinking and
these could be the possibilities based on the ongoing political developments.
What actually precipitates
depends on the real outcome of the next Lok Sabha elections. And as the goings
say, the Congress party is staring at electoral loss with slim chances to get numbers to
be able to form the government.
(3) Make your own assessment,
Pranab Mukherjee on Modi's PM remark, March 5, 2013
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/make-your-own-assessment-pranab-mukherjee-on-modis-pm-remark/376848-37.html